Lets keep this in perspective. To be the 15th overall best selling comic is pretty fantastic for the 14th issue of a very niche title.

But what I find even more amazing are the results for the giant sized AXM. Annuals NEVER sell as well as the monthly book. Especially when there's a five dollar price tag. FIVE BUCKS! So, all in all, I have to say another great showing for Joss and his creations!

(BTW--I totally predicted Kitty would phase the bullet through the Earth. There really wasn't any other solution.)

Diminishing returns with each succeeding issue are a general trend for comics, and shouldn't be taken as any sort of problem. The numbers from ICv2 will give us a better view, as Diamond's index values vary month to month anyway (it's all based around Detective Comics having a 100.000 index).

#12 got a boost because of the controversy, so bucked the trend - that's why sales were down more for #13.

It's 'Batman' that's set at 100 I think (though a couple of months back they used Detective because 'Batman' wasn't published) but yeah, the ICV2 "actual" numbers are normally closer to the real situation (and matter more anyway IMO - if you're still getting 100k readers, is it important that 'Secret Invasion' is getting 250k ? Clearly people's spending power is finite but i'm not sure comic sales are a strict zero-sum thing). That said, ICV2 don't (I think) count UK sales and i'd be interested to know how Buffy and Angel are doing over here.

Ah yes, it is Batman, you're right, Saje. ICv2 says that orders in Europe via Diamond UK get between 3-20% of the numbers the US gets. So Buffy #13, for example, could have sold 2,500 copies, or 15,000...

Some reflections on these numbers. This month Buffy charts lower because there have been 4 high-profile new book debuts from Marvel (including Joss' Giant AXM) and two issues from the incredibly advertised (and good) Batman R.I.P storyline. If these weren't out Buffy would have been around 10-ish. What matters is that the hype for the other titles will dim next month, while Buffy is a very steady seller, as the no.1 spot for the No Future For You TPB shows. It's also true that declining sales for all titles are always the norm, that's why "events" are done, to boost numbers.

I'd also be very interested to see a UK or European version of this chart. I'm sure Buffy would be at least in the top 5.